Sea Hear Now: The Best Summer Send-Off

September has arrived, which means that autumn is on its way. Already I’ve felt the cooler temperatures, seen the leaves begin to change colors, and have even pulled out my autumn playlist. I thought that summer had finally passed, but it seems that summer had one last trick up its sleeve. The trick? Asbury Park’s Sea Hear Now music festival.

Sea Hear Now is an annual music festival that takes place in Asbury Park, NJ. In previous years, they’ve had headliners such as the Foo Fighters, The Killers, and Dave Matthews Band. This year, Saturday’s headliner was Noah Kahan. Kahan, while having made music since 2017, skyrocketed in popularity in 2022 with the release of his album Stick Season. However, Kahan’s presence is slightly overshadowed by Sunday’s headliner: Asbury Park native and New Jersey legend Bruce Springsteen. With two major artists, especially one being Bruce Springsteen himself, I knew this music festival was bound to be good.

I had never been to a music festival before, so I didn’t really know what to expect. Luckily, I had my two friends Abby and Ben to help guide me through it. For the first day, the only thing we planned were our outfits. A piece of advice to all who are choosing their music festival outfits: Definitely go with comfort over style. While you can have a stylish and comfortable outfit like I did (it was a cute crop top, denim shorts, and high-top Converse for all those wondering), focus on comfort. If you don’t you’ll end up like Abby, who wore long high-heeled boots that she had to take off during Kahan’s set due to how much her feet hurt.

Back to the first day, we slept in and left Abby’s place (who luckily lives 20 minutes away from Asbury Park) at around 3:00 PM. We missed quite a few artists, but our main goal that day was to see Kahan anyway.

Upon arrival, we found ourselves surrounded by different stands (most of which were bars), and we quickly found our way to the merchandise stand. I recommend getting your merchandise early. Yes, you’ll have to carry it around (I sacrificed myself and bought a tote to hold all our stuff), but at least you’re guaranteed to get what you want. By the next day most things had sold out (including the shirt I got for myself), so if you really want merchandise, get it early the first day.

 For the rest of the day, we wandered around the beach, watching different sets. There were three stages overall: The Park Stage, which was on the regular ground, the Sand Stage, which, as the name implies, was on the sand, and the Surf Stage, the main stage that was also on the sand. The main sets we saw were The Revivalists and The Black Crowes, both of which were amazing shows. However, when night fell, we knew things were about to get really good. By this time, my siblings Gianna (older) and Joey (younger) had shown up. I had gotten them one-day passes so they could see Kahan, and my parents had driven down to drop them off. Somehow they managed to get us insanely close to the stage (you don’t mess with my siblings when they want to see Noah Kahan). 

Now, I wasn’t a big Noah Kahan fan before the festival. I thought his music was good, but not the kind I would typically listen to. This performance changed that. He started out with his most well-known song, “Dial Drunk”, and immediately everyone started singing along. The energy was amazing and everyone was clearly having a good time. He mainly sang from his Stick Season album, although he did throw in some songs for his older fans, such as “False Confidence.” Kahan was an incredible performer. Not only were his vocals beautiful, but you could tell he was having a good time up there. He was dancing and running around on stage while jamming on his guitar. In a more humorous moment, when talking to the audience, he really showed that he wasn’t from Jersey as he believed that the body of water next to us was a river and not the Atlantic Ocean. 

I’d also like to give a shout out to the security team at Sea Hear Now. I’ve discovered that the closer you are to the stage, the more things go wrong in the audience. There were multiple instances of fights, people passing out from dehydration, or just simply being too drunk. However, I always felt safe as the security team was quick and efficient with dealing with all these incidents. People in the audience would put their phone flashlights on to show where the incident was, and immediately security would be on their way to help. I had heard previously of security not being the greatest at events like this, but Sea Hear Now was clearly prepared and ready for anything.

Eventually, the night came to a close. We were all tired, our feet hurt from all the walking and standing (especially Abby’s; dress for comfort everyone!) and we were ready to go home. My parents (and my dog Lucky!) were kind enough to go out of their way and drive us back to Abby’s for the night. Soon enough, they dropped us off and we all headed to bed, needing to get some energy back for the next day.

Sunday came, and this time we decided to get there earlier to claim a spot for Springsteen. Abby had learned her lesson and wore comfortable sneakers this time. Her parents, who had been away previously, were home so her dad drove us over. Unlike Saturday, we had a plan. 

The first part of the plan: see BERTHA: Grateful Drag. Who is BERTHA, you may ask? BERTHA is a Grateful Dead cover band consisting of drag queens. Yes, they were as cool and iconic as it sounds. We had heard good things about them, and seeing a bunch of drag queens perform sounded awesome, so we headed over to the Sand Stage. Considering they were on one of the smaller stages, they brought in a surprisingly big crowd. The band took this humbly and thanked everyone for coming out, as they continued to absolutely slay on stage.

Once their set ended, we began the next phase of our plan: claiming our spot for Springsteen. Unlike Kahan, we didn’t want to get close to the Surf Stage, instead wanting to put our blanket down and chill during Springsteen’s set. Luckily, there was a lone, large screen further down the beach that would allow us to watch the show from afar. We put down our blanket near the screen and left to wander around and get lunch. Thank god we put that blanket down, because by the time we returned to see Kool and the Gang perform, there were no more spots left. I had thought things were crowded for Noah Kahan, but I clearly underestimated how much New Jerseyans would love to see Bruce Springstreen perform in his hometown.

When we returned again after leaving to see Norah Jones perform and wanting to get a sweet treat, the beach had turned into a sea of people and blankets. We tried to navigate our way through and step on the least amount of blankets as possible. It was decided that we would stay here at the blanket for the rest of the night to avoid the crowds.

My bladder had another idea. I sadly left my friends and ventured off on my own to go to the bathroom. While leaving was okay, returning to the sand by myself was a horrible experience. I was squished in-between people trying to get a spot, while everyone who had been hunkered down for hours looked at and judged us all. The whole time I just kept thinking I’m not like them, I have a spot already I swear. Trying to find Ben and Abby was a real-life, nightmare version of “Where’s Waldo?” When I finally spotted them, I could’ve wept with joy. I quickly made my way to our oasis, apologizing to everyone whose blanket I stepped on. 

Eventually, the sun began to set again, and the main show began. Seeing Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band is truly a memory I shall never forget. Even though Springsteen is 74 years old (a fact I learned from the high middle-aged lady that was next to us), you could hardly tell from the energy he has when he performs. He was as spry as Kahan as he jumped around, shredded his guitar, and sang his heart out.

However, tragedy struck when, to our horror, the lone screen we were watching the show on (along with the three screens on the main stage) went out. For context, this was 20 minutes into a 3-HOUR SET. It had hardly started and we had already lost the best part of the spot we picked. We could still hear him fine, so the night became a light show as we watched the changing lights coming from the stage. Eventually, 20 minutes later cheers rang out as the screens turned back on. The show was saved.

Now, I don’t know a lot of Springsteen’s songs, so I couldn’t really sing along. However, his voice was truly lovely to listen to, and the band was insanely talented as well, so I was still having a good time. The high middle-aged lady next to us offered me a hit of her joint, but Springsteen’s performance was able to relax me enough that I turned her down. I was content to just sit in the sand and enjoy the show.

Things got crazy as we got closer to the show’s end. He was throwing out hit after hit, such as “Born to Run” and “Dancing in the Dark.” Springsteen was seemingly ending the show with the song “Twist and Shout,” only for him to keep going after 10:30 hit. Suddenly, he asks the audience if they want to go home. I, who was very tired by this point and knew I had to be up early to go back to college, screamed NO! (This was a lie, but I couldn’t tell Bruce the truth.) He yelled to the audience, “DO YOU THINK YOUCAN OUTLAST THE E STREET BAND? WE’VE BEEN DOING THIS FOR 50 YEARS!” The crowd roared as they tried to take on Springsteen’s challenge. We would outlast the E Street Band.

We did not outlast the E Street Band. While they only played for another 15 minutes, I know that they could’ve kept going if they were allowed to. I may have loved the show, but if I had to stay any longer I would’ve fallen asleep on the sand. Springsteen continued to perform “Twist and Shout” until finally ending the festival with “Jersey Girl.” The beautiful, slower song really fit the mood for the end of the festival. Much like the festival, summer was ending. The cold air that night signified the changing of the seasons. Autumn may have arrived, but this festival was an amazing way to close the book on the Summer of 2024.